Birthday Gala for a Dynamic Leo

The Los Angeles Country Club is not the usual place for fiery speeches. Maybe because she’s a dynamic Leo, Joan Williams took things into her own hands the other noon at her “nifty 50” birthday luncheon hosted by Amanda McIntyre.

After the consomme with caviar and the Cobb salad but before the yummy chocolate birthday cake arrived, Joanie Williams had a captive audience as she talked about friendship, love and all those things “between the Blue Lagoon and Golden Pond” (as the two novelty pillows she received noted).

Wearing the new emerald-and-diamond bauble she had given herself, she touted friendship and love. Her three handsome sons and their godmothers were there: Latham and his godmother Kathleen McCarthy, Clayton and Michele Crahan and Billy and Patty Weber.

So were dozens of chums: Dody Booth, Carolyn Caputo, Tam Dickerson, Penne Durst, Molly Barnes, Louise Griffith, Joann McGarty, Norma McIntyre, Maggie Edwards, Elsie Brown, Joan Gaines, Clunie Holt, Mary Morton, Ellen Stuart, Mary Morgan, Liz Up de Graff, Dardie Dunlap, Lynn Magor, Tiffy Cappell, Judy Walraven, Joan Kaiser, Nancy Livingston, Lucy Young, Martha Schnieders, Joan Mackey, Diane Mogan, Margaret Nutt, Audree Penton, Nancy Appleton, Patsy Ketchum, Ann Gautier, Susan Harbach Johnson (a new bride), Midge Magee, Jane Dragge.

Susie Kenworth couldn’t attend, but she sent a portable fan for those warmish sensations.

Before the party, the honoree had rifled her bookshelves. With elan, she quoted Rosalind Russell, (“Life is a banquet”) and Leo Buscaglia (“Remove price tags from people; everyone has worth” and “Don’t hold on to anger, hurt or pain--they steal your energy and keep you from love.”)

The birthday celebration continued at another party for different friends in Joanie’s Bel-Air Bay Club cabana. Some in on the fun: Greg Morton, Judy Halley, George Hale, Vivian Chertok, Ginger and David Ludwick and Fred Nason.

Invitations are in the mail for Las Patronas of La Jolla’s annual race day Sept. 5 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. This is the third of the “big three” special charity days at Del Mar.

Race day Chairwoman Mrs. Timothy Canty and Las Patronas Chairwoman Mrs. Harold Campbell met at the Turf Club with manager John Long to discuss details. Working hard to assure success are Nancy Hester, Liz Huddleston, Louisa Pillsbury, Hank Corwin and Monique Gray.

Scripps Memorial Hospital Fund reaps the profits.

Special buses leave Century City and Sherman Oaks, with a stop in Newport Beach for Hope Guild’s 34th annual Day at the Races at Del Mar on Sept. 6.

Mrs. Wendell Mayes of Beverly Hills and Co-chairwoman Mrs. Donald Schoenfeld are planning box lunches en route to Del Mar and Turf Club seats, plus an evening of dining and dancing on the terrace. Also on the committee are: Mmes. Thomas Collier, William Ball, Robert Hanson, Wayne Snyder, Gordon Lee, Edward Mueller, Robert Conover and Mary Boyle.

Proceeds will aid emotionally and developmentally disturbed children at St. John’s Child Study Center.

Paul C. Masterson, president of the Permanent Charities Committee, has announced Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows Allen as 1986 honorary campaign chairmen. The 41st annual pre-campaign luncheon is set for Thursday in Beverly Hills.

Civic leader H. Lew Zuckerman will be honored on his 100th birthday at a gala Sept. 10 at the Beverly Wilshire. Monty Hall has been named master of ceremonies.

The Zuckerman family, the Jewish Homes for the Aging and its support group, The Guardians, are sponsoring the dinner for the centenarian, the last surviving founder of the homes. Zuckerman, who continues to operate his real estate company, resides in one of the homes.

The occasion will mark the kick-off of the homes’ capital funds campaign, according to Sidney Morse and Allen Ziegler, dinner co-chairmen.

Golfers will get a chance to play up to par, thus giving developmentally disabled persons the chance to function up to par at the 11th annual Exceptional Children’s Foundation Golf Tourney Sept. 7 at the Simi Hills Golf Course. Entry fee is $45. Registration deadline is Friday.

The Eras Center, an educational resource and services center, hosts its third annual pro-celebrity tennis exhibition Sept. 8 at the home of Ted and Joan Saltzman in Encino.

A $40 donation entitles you to watch celebrities and professionals at the net--players such as Ricky Schroder, Barry Newman, Robert Cohn, Oliver Robbins, Fritz Coleman and David Sheehan--and to enjoy a buffet lunch, continental breakfast and fashion show.